Ours for the Asking

pastor's note: this sermon is based on Chapter one of David Jeremiah’s book, The Prayer Matrix

My daughter turned five this past November, shortly after we moved. I remember the conversations that began months earlier:

"Marissa, what do you want for your birthday?"

"Dora chutes and ladders."

"What else would you like for your birthday?"

"Just Dora chutes and ladders."

Well, her birthday came around and she was sitting on the floor at Grandma's house, opening her presents. She spotted a long, thin box and tore into it—just clothes. Another, similar box—just clothes. Then my wife, Michelle, handed her a box. Her eyes lit up as she tore away the paper and squealed with delight. Mommy, Mommy, it’s Dora’s chutes and ladders.

That’s the way it is for prayer. Somehow, we get the idea in the back of our minds that prayer is breaking down God’s reluctance to do something for us, and when our prayers are answered, we act as if something extraordinary has happened. But that is contrary to what the Bible teaches. James tells us that God “gives to all liberally and without reproach.” (1:5) James 4:2 tells us that “you do not have because you do not ask.” You see God is in no way dragging his feet about providing what we need. Instead, He’s in heaven wondering primarily why we don’t ask more often.

Consider our main text (read Matt. 7.7-11). Through prayer, God has given us an open door not only into his presence, but also into His rich blessings, for He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above (what does that say?) All that we ask! (Eph. 3.20)

Jesus teaching at the end of the sermon on the mount contains three small but powerful words: ask, seek, and knock. These words are in the imperative, i.e., they are commands. Jesus didn’t say, “If you feel like it, ask.” He didn’t say, “When you’re in the mood, seek.” And he didn’t tell us, “If you get around to it, you might want to try knocking.” Instead, he commands us to ask, seek, and knock.

Whatever it is that we need, we must learn to ask for it. When we don’t, we’re disobeying Christ’s command to us. But it’s much more than a matter of obedience and disobedience; our heavenly Father wants to hear us express what we truly want and need.

The three powerful words are not only commands, but in the original Greek, they are in a tense that gives a sense of repeated action. These words translate, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Don’t ever stop.

There is a story that’s told about a father who was getting his son to bed. After tucking him in, his son said, “Daddy, I need a drink of water.” A short time later, he heard, “Daddy, I need to go potty.” It continued like that for about thirty minutes until, finally exasperated, the father said, “Son, you are fine. Lie down and go to sleep. If I hear one more sound from you, I’m coming up and giving you a spanking!” All was silent for about five minutes. Then a little voice called down the stairs, “Daddy, when you come up to spank me, could you bring me a drink of water?”

That’s just how children are. They never quit. It doesn’t matter how many times they’ve asked before; they just keep on asking. They ask and ask and ask. Yet we, who are God’s children, seem to think that we shouldn’t ask, despite what the Bible actually says!

The continual commands of Matt. 7 also have a sense of progression. Ask is strong enough, but seek is even stronger, and knock is even more intense. Most of the time, we just ask, but there are times when we must begin to seek or even knock for the answer we need; asking just isn’t enough. This progression is illustrated and reinforced by simply writing down the commands in a row. What are we to do? A..S..K!

Finally, we must make prayer our first resort. Oswald Chambers wrote, “We pray when there’s nothing else to do, but Jesus wants us to pray before we do anything at all.” I’ve been amazed in my ministry by how often people have come to me to ask advice when facing some big life choice. Even more amazing to me, however, is that when I ask, “Have you prayed about this yet?” the answer is more often than not, “I guess I really haven’t thought about that.” Why would anybody come to me, especially before they went to almighty God, who created the universe? I mean, God has all the blessings of heaven at his disposal. What do I have that compares to that?

So ask God for whatever it is you need. Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, Knock and keep on knocking. And as you do, just watch how wonderful our God is as he answers again and again and again.

From the Pastor's Pen - May

As we prepare to celebrate the National Day of Prayer this week, I wanted to take a couple of minutes to reflect on prayer. E. M. Bounds says, “We can do nothing without prayer.” Therefore, if we want to see something happen, we must begin to pray.

In prayer, we are invited to petition the creator of the universe, who in turn moves on our behalf. Prayer is one of the most powerful tools that God has ever given to the Church – and it is one that we rarely use to its full potential. So here are a few thoughts on prayer:

1. When we pray, we need to pray specifics. When we pray in broad, general terms, there i no real way to measure if God has answered our prayer. Instead, we need to pray for the specific needs that we see around us.

2. We need to recapture the idea of praying the promises. Consider for a moment the implications of the promise of John 14:12. As one pastor said, we simply need to read the red and pray for the power. There are many more promises; we just need to get them in our heart and on our lips.

3. There are many types of prayer, and we need to pray all types of prayer. a. Arrow/breath prayers – a quick prayer for someone we see in passing. b. Need prayers –both for you and for others. c. Regular daily prayer time. (these three are by no means an exhaustive list.)

4. Don’t pray later when you can pray now. When someone asks for prayer, pray now. You might not remember to pray later.

5. There is greater power when prayer is tied to fasting and self-denial.

6. Prayer is conversation. Don’t make it single-sided; take time to be quiet before the Lord and listen for his voice.

7. Pray as you are, not as you are not. Just be yourself.

Battle Cry - Rise Up!

Matthew 3:1-6 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: "A voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'" 4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

I want to begin this morning with a statistic that is absolutely frightening. Only 4% of this current generation of youth has a personal relationship with Jesus. That is what Battle Cry is about. It is the decision on the part of believers to declare war on the culture that is stealing away these youth, filling their minds with perversion and lusts, with greed and envy, with every type of sin and imagination that exalts itself above God in our lives. The Battle Cry is a call to the local churches to rise up and proclaim the holy standard of Christ!

Ron Luce shared with us about John B., who serves to show us what is required if we are going to carry out this plan of attack. Consider for a minute this strange character we know as John the Baptist. Dressed in camel’s hair clothing, bound with a leather belt, he was eating locusts and wild honey. (Living on the bitter made bearable by a touch of the sweet) And John was not just strange looking – he was totally sold out for God. And I would submit to you this morning that if we are going to be effective in reaching this generation for Christ, we are going to have to be willing to become as sold out as John was, willing to be considered a freak for the sake of God’s kingdom.

Notice what was said here about John by the prophet Isaiah: (verse 3)he was “The voice. . .” The first thing you learn about being in a culture war is that the loudest voice wins. Consider, for example, the decision this week by CBS, a powerful media network, to fire their long-time employee, Imus. Now the record is pretty clear that Imus said some pretty stupid things, and CBS did what they thought was right—they placed him on two weeks of unpaid leave. But there were some voices (say voices) that began to say, it’s not enough. And the voices grew louder and louder. And because of those voices, some of CBS’s sponsors began to pull out. And because of those voices, this major network changed its mind and fired this man.

Now back to our main point, here. In a culture war, the loudest voice wins. And this got me to thinking—what is the church’s voice like? Are we a dominating, loud voice in our society? I would suggest that because of political correctness, because we don’t want to be considered freaks, we’ve allowed our voice to become a whisper. In an interview in Detroit, some of our youth were asked if what type of animal this move of God needed to be like. Some of our kids were there and got interviewed. And what did you guys say? (A Tiger) A ferocious, hungry, stalking tiger. But the church today looks more like tigger than a tiger. We’re bouncy, trouncy, bouncy, trouncy, fun-fun-fun-fun-fun!

Church we need to rediscover our voice! I want to go back to verse 3 again. John was a voice crying . . . He wasn’t just talking in whispers, he was belting it out at the top of his lungs. He was saying I have something important to tell you and I am going to make sure you hear. . . picture Ty Pennington, of Exterme Home Makeover, yelling through the megaphone!

So John was a voice, crying in the wilderness. . . Why is it appropriate to compare this culture to a barren wilderness? Consider for just a moment the statistics:

What was John yelling out there in the desert? 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' I want you to consider why John was out there. He wasn’t preaching the Gospel; he was preparing folks to hear the Gospel message. Today the church does a good job most of the time proclaiming the Gospel, but we aren’t very good at preparing the way for those seekers who are not yet ready to hear and believe. Am I willing to pray for that person every day, to listen to them, to their questions and concerns without pushing my own beliefs or an agenda? Can I just be a friend and a voice of reason for someone who is full of There are a lot of paths that need straightened, a lot of preparation that has not taken place.

I’ve said it before, but it needs to be said again—we need to move people towards the cross; from -10 to 0 and beyond. God is looking for people who are willing to use their talents, their hands, their life, to be like John—a Jesus Freak who is preparing the way for the Kingdom of God to come in the lives of those around them. We need people who will rise up and move beyond the casual Christianity of our culture to be authentically empowered people who can join the ranks and join in the battle. The battle cry has been sounded. Will you answer?

Catching up

It's been a very full two weeks! I apologize to those who read this blog regularly; it's been two weeks since I posted. I was on vacation for a couple of days, ending with a stop by my previous charge for calling hours. My family spent the night with a couple from that charge; he died unexpectedly the next day (Thur.) after an outpatient procedure on his shoulder. Friday morning I left with the church group for Battle Cry Detroit. It was an awesome event. We got home at 3 am on Sunday. Since it was UMW Sunday, I didn't preach, hence, no new post this week. Right after service, we drove back down to the valley for calling hours. The next day I was one of two pastors at the funeral, and I arrived home in time to leave for the church softball game (an 8:30 double-header every Monday night). I will be preaching this Sunday, so look for a new post Monday or Tuesday (4/23 or 4/24).

Peace and blessings

-Pastor Tom

The Palm Sunday Revolution

Luke 19:26-40 "He replied, 'I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them--bring them here and kill them in front of me.'" 28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it.'" 32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34They replied, "The Lord needs it." 35They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: 38"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" 40 "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem that day, he was not just rallying his followers. He was symbolically making a bold statement—I’m starting a revolution. You see, when a conquering hero returned from battle, he would ride his horse into the city and the people would go out to greet him in much the same manner they welcomed Jesus that day. It was such a radical display that the Pharisees demanded that Jesus rebuke the disciples, but he ignored their plea. “If they keep silent, the very rocks will cry out.” Jesus was publicly declaring his intentions to establish his revolution and his kingdom. But we must ask the question: What was this revolution about?

1. Jesus came not to destroy but to fulfill. “Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17) Jesus never lost sight of the goal: the coming of the kingdom of God into the lives of men and women. He was positive, not negative; he built up instead of tearing down.

2. Jesus placed humanity and their welfare at the center of His mission. Not the institution, nor a ridged set of rules and laws, but men and women. “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27) Our modern leaders would be wise to weigh their own agendas against the simple rule of Christ: What will be best for people from the greatest to the smallest?

3. The revolution of Jesus was seen within the framework of God’s will, and not as some scheme to put a crown on man that he might rule instead. Man is a poor substitute for God. Granted that we need an ever-larger understanding of God, but what changes is our understanding, not God Himself. What made the Palm Sunday revolution so authentic was that it was led by God.

4. Jesus’ actions deeply upset people, but he proceeds because He loved humanity—He loved the very people He was upsetting. We see the same thing happen to Paul, and with every brother or sister who decides to live their life according to the revolutionary standard that Christ proclaimed, who stand against the status quo of our society, and who are willing to uphold the commands of God, not out of spite or pride, but out of genuine love for God and man. We have no right to mess with the status quo unless we have a genuine, Christ-like love for them. We must love the capitalist and the communist, the liberal and the conservative, for persons of every color, race, and creed, for we are all made in the image of God! Only then can we look at the cross. For in the cross of Good Friday we see the beginnings of the revolution. It is still the sign of the revolution that we call the Kingdom of God.

As we celebrate Palm Sunday, are we willing to take the radical, revolutionary steps that Christ asks us to? Are we willing to stand up and be counted as citizens of the Kingdom, even when it goes against the grain? Are we willing to look beyond the institution and the status quo to see people in the light of the cross of Christ?